Anti-Gambling ‘Expert’ Set To Brief Senate On ‘Integrity’ Owes Millions To Victims He Defrauded

Senate Democrats are inviting an anti-gambling activist who was disbarred after stealing nearly $2 million from clients to finance his own gambling habit, still owes nearly all that money, and appears to falsely represent himself as a therapist, to testify on integrity in sports. 

Harry Levant, a self-styled gambling addiction expert who has become the go-to expert for the campaign against legalized betting, is a Democrat witness for a congressional hearing to weigh the social costs of legalized sports betting. Levant’s own history, however, raises serious questions about whether he belongs in front of Congress as a neutral authority at all.

Levant, now director of gambling policy at the Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI), has become a favored media source for outlets eager to highlight the dangers of online wagering. He has appeared in major national publications and alongside lawmakers pushing federal restrictions on sports betting, often presenting himself as a reformed addict turned counselor and public health advocate.

But Levant’s public rehabilitation story omits a key fact: he is a disbarred former attorney who pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $2 million from his own legal clients to finance his gambling addiction. His victims reportedly included a family member and a double amputee. 

“My world crumbled in May of 2014 when I was informed that all my money no longer existed,” a victim of Levant told a judge. “I will never forgive Mr. Levant for what he has done to me. He needs to be punished and pay for what he has done.”

Though he avoided prison after facing dozens of criminal charges, court records reviewed by The Daily Wire show he still owes roughly $1.9 million in restitution more than a decade later. Public records indicate he has maintained access to high-end housing while making only minimal monthly payments to the victims he defrauded. At the current payment rate ordered by the court, full repayment would take 316 years.

Levant now publicly markets himself as a “therapist” and “gambling counselor,” offering in-person services in Philadelphia and telehealth sessions online. Yet available state licensing databases in both Pennsylvania and Massachusetts do not appear to show an active professional counseling license under his name. 

In a phone interview, Levant said he doesn’t run a therapy practice.

“I host a coaching program, not a therapy practice. I host group coaching,” Levant said. “If someone in the group needs therapy, I refer them to a licensed therapist.”

Despite this, Levant’s website still describes him as a “mental health therapist” and contains a page titled “Therapy,” where he says, “I offer a comprehensive approach to therapy,” invites visitors to “become a patient,” and advertises “in-person services in the Philadelphia area and virtual telehealth services for all ages.”

Levant added that he is “very upfront” that his use of the title “Dr.” refers to his doctorate in law and public policy from Northeastern University, which is consistent with his public biography.

Levant also said he continues his “restitution payment each month,” but did not comment on the amount. He remains under court-ordered restitution stemming from the theft case and said he is “in full compliance with those obligations,” according to an email from PHAI Executive Director Mark Gottlieb, who described himself as Levant’s supervisor. 

Gottlieb wrote to The Daily Wire to “memorialize” Levant’s answers in his phone interview with The Daily Wire, emphasizing the organization’s awareness of the questions surrounding his criminal history’s pertinence on his current work.

Regarding the “therapy” claims, Gottlieb said he stopped treating patients after moving to Massachusetts because he would need new state licensure to continue practicing there. Gottlieb said PHAI had kept Levant “very very busy” and that he had not yet completed that licensing process, adding, “I’m quite sure he will be treating individual patients again soon.” 

He said Levant had been treating patients in Pennsylvania through mid-2025 at Ethos Treatment, but 

That history matters because Levant is not merely a recovering addict sharing a personal testimony. He is now positioned as an expert witness before the United States Senate while simultaneously helping build a legal and political campaign against the sports betting industry that could generate significant financial benefit for his organization and its allies.

Levant and colleagues at PHAI recently incorporated a nonprofit called Families and Friends of Gamblers, which seems to be laying the groundwork for mass litigation against gambling companies. The model resembles the public-health litigation strategy used against “Big Tobacco” in the 1990s — not coincidentally, one of Levant’s close collaborators, Richard Daynard, helped architect that litigation. 

If successful, the effort could create an enormous legal payday for the advocacy ecosystem Levant now inhabits.

That creates an obvious conflict: the same man testifying before lawmakers about the alleged public harms of sports betting is also involved in efforts that may directly profit from expanded legal action against the industry.

None of this means Congress should ignore the issue of gambling addiction, but it does raise a straightforward question: why is the Senate relying on a witness whose professional brand, political advocacy, and personal financial interests all depend on portraying sports betting as a national crisis — and one whose own past includes defrauding vulnerable people to sustain the very addiction he now monetizes as an expert?